EPA OKs Mountaintop Removal for Coal Mining

It's been a while since I've climbed on the ol' soapbox! Can you tell that since Obama has been elected I've had less to get up here for? But that doesn't mean that his administration has been perfect.... and I have a big problem with right now with the EPA and its new administrator, Lisa Jackson.

The vast majority of applications under consideration by this administration for mountaintop removal in the Appalachians have been approved. This is an environmental tragedy of epic proportions, and one I had hoped the Obama administration would end.

Mountaintop removal is just that -- the top of a mountain is blown off and the debris quite often ends up in rivers and streams. This has been a priority for some time for the NRDC (National Resources Defense Council), but they were unable to get anywhere under the Bush administration with stopping this nonsense.

You can't regrow a mountaintop. If you were to look at an aerial view of West Virginia, for instance, where coal mining abounds, you would see utter devastation.

While we are (unfortunately) going to be dependent on coal for some time (it's the major source of fuel for most power plants in the U.S.), there is no such thing as clean coal. I for one hope I see the end of coal mining in my lifetime. If we don't get onto renewable, clean sources of energy, we will continue to be passed by other countries in the development of these sources. They're not waiting on us.

Swine whaaat?

Well, it seems like deja vu all over again.... I seem to recall some kind of dire warnings about bird flu. Now we have swine/bird/human flu all mixed together, and we have the press going ga-ga again with the predictions of doom. I pity the pigs in Egypt -- being a majority Muslim country, pigs are only raised there for the minority Christian/non-vegetarian population, so the government, in all their infinite wisdom, had no problem ordering all pigs to be slaughtered despite the fact that you can't get swine flu from eating pigs.

Do I hear the cry of a wolf?

It now appears that swine flu is no more deadly than any other garden variety kind of flu, which unfortunately people can and do die from, particularly if they are young (and therefore haven't been exposed to as many viruses as us oldsters) or have other medical issues.

When will the press learn that it is irresponsible to try to a cause a panic just for the sake of ratings? Tsk tsk.